


Ghosts That We Knew

by jacksgirl217



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Cleon, Cloud/Leon - Freeform, M/M, Strifeheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 01:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgirl217/pseuds/jacksgirl217
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'It was the banality of everyday life that caused Leon to fall in love with Cloud.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts That We Knew

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Square Enix and/or Disney. No infringement intended, no profit made.

 

Ghosts That We Knew.

’So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light.  
Cos oh they gave me such a fright.  
But I will hold as long as you like.  
Just promise me we’ll be alright.’

It was the banality of everyday life that caused Leon to fall in love with Cloud.   
He would watch him wash up their pots from dinner or fix a busted drawer or sit and watch films with Yuffie and Aerith. It was the small things that left him so fulfilled and It stole over him so slowly that he hardly noticed it; this contentment.  
How had he learnt to be so completed by just watching the other man? He guessed that it was the way with people who watched from the side lines. And yet, through all of his musings and his revelations, he realised that he yearned for more. How could just watching Cloud ever be enough?  
Every accidental brush of skin against skin was like a beautiful taunt that echoed in his head. He would never have him. When Cloud passed him a cup, or bumped his shoulder, reached out to brush a crumb from the corner of his mouth or slipped a strand of sable hair behind his ear, it was torture.   
And at night, when the long dark hours seemed endlessly daunting and lonely, Leon would close his eyes and picture Cloud’s face. It gave him the only comfort he could think of.  
He loved to watch Cloud smile. He loved to watch Cloud do everything, except leave.  
When Cloud left, it was a torment that would last the days and weeks until he returned, never letting up its intensity or violence.  
It was a feeling of dread and longing that had filled him not four days ago, and had turned to blind panic and fear when Cid had returned home with news that a body had been seen in the Dark Depths. He pulled the cussing man back out of the house by the collar of his shirt, dragging him halfway to the bailey before the old man yelled a disgruntled “All right, all right, imma commin’.”  
The two men ran in silence through the rain to the spot where the fallen body had been sighted. It was an anxious few seconds as Leon peered through the sheets of driving rain trying to find anything that looked like a person.  
He spotted him lying in a wet heap, bandaged Buster sword flung to the ground a few paces to the left of him. He wasn’t moving.   
Leon was accustomed to fear. As a leader, it was something he had felt all his life. But the secret fear that he felt for Cloud in that moment was like nothing he had ever experienced before. He never knew it could climb to such heights.   
He had sat beside him for a week, waiting while he healed and finally woke up. Caring for him had alleviated some of his distress. It felt like he was doing something. But he would not be completely consoled until he saw those cerulean eyes again.  
When Cloud finally did wake, it was to a face that looked almost as worn and beaten as his own. It was a face that Cloud had come to love and revere and in his own way, take for granted. Selfishly, Cloud had assumed that Leon would always be there, every day that he waited in Radiant Garden and every day that he was away. Seeing their leader look so haggard and worried made Cloud feel ashamed, he hadn’t wanted to be a burden.  
But getting better with the brunette Gunblader around was a pain in the arse as well. Leon didn’t look like much of a flapper, but he was. Or at least he was, in his own way. He hung back, watching everything and just waiting for the moment he was needed. He helped the blond swordsman to the bathroom, careful to cradle the blonds injured arm.  
“You don’t need to do this you know.” Cloud had said as Leon filled the sink with warm soapy water.  
“I know.”   
Cloud had to admit, trying to shave with a busted hand would have been a problem, and was privately grateful for Leon’s gentle touch as he shaved him of a weeks’ worth of stubble.  
It was in the slight shaking of the hand and the touch of his thumb on his chin that lasted just a second too long, that gave Leon away. Cloud watched the older man’s face carefully. He watched his eyes as they seemed to drink in everything and only the subtlest of flickers gave away the longing behind them.  
Just as Leon realised his mistake, the surprise and fear bright in his powder grey eyes, Cloud reached for his hand that had been pulled back as if burned.  
“Leon.” It was a command as much as it was an acknowledgment. Cloud’s hand tightened around Leon’s fingers; a silent communication that everything would be alright.  
Don’t pull away.  
Leon waited; every fibre of his being alight with trepidation and anticipation, his breath caught in his throat. Oh Hayne he hadn’t meant for this to happen.  
Cloud said no more, recognising the anxiety in the taller man’s gaze. He would act, or he would lose Leon and the moment forever. He stepped into the space that Leon had created by pulling away, bringing his good hand up to brush his knuckles along Leon’s jaw. His face was close enough to bump his nose against the older man’s and in the tiny space between lips that mingled breath, Cloud inched forward and pressed his soft full lips against Leon’s quivering mouth.   
Cloud could feel the tremor in Leon’s hand as he brought it up to tentatively cup Cloud’s cheek. The kiss was languid and sweet, full of all the uncertainty that filled the two men who had no idea how to be in love, but as with everything else in life, they would learn.  
Cloud pulled away and stepped back to regard Leon with open, honest eyes.  
“What now?” He asked after a few moments charged silence.  
Leon’s shook his head, his face a mixture of bewilderment and awe. “I don’t know. Are… are we…” he swallowed and tried to remove the lump in his suddenly dry throat. “Are we sure we should do this?... You know…” Leon was stopped by Cloud’s softly curved lips as he smiled. Leon always loved it when Cloud did that.  
“I don’t know what’s going to happen now.” Cloud confessed stepping back into the space between them and bringing their bodies flush again. He brushed the bangs from Leon’s face and marvelled at the older man’s unspoilt beauty.   
“But we’ll be alright.” He promised.

 

‘You saw my pain, washed out in the rain.  
And broken glass, saw the blood run from my veins.  
But you saw no fault, no cracks in my heart.  
And you knelt beside my hope torn apart.

But the ghosts that we knew,  
Made us black and all blue  
But we’ll live a long life.  
And the ghosts that we knew,  
Will flicker from view  
And we’ll live a long life.

So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light.  
Cos oh they gave me such a fright.  
But I will hold on with all of my might.  
Just promise me we’ll be alright.’

Ghosts That We Knew – Mumford and Sons.


End file.
